Former President Donald Trump exited the midterm elections unscathed earlier this week, with hand-picked candidates performing generally poorly. In addition, it was No landslide victory.
However, Republican Ron DeSantis ran a landslide and was re-elected by a double-digit margin in the Florida governor’s election, thus being highlighted as a new Republican star and potential presidential candidate in 2024.
DeSantis has been referred to in the US media as Trump version 2.0 Or the smarter Trump version, already capable of implementing and enacting controversial policies. The governor has a solid education at Yale and Harvard, and has also served in Iraq.
Trump, who made a big announcement on Tuesday next week, has been attacking DeSantis a lot lately and regards him as a strong contender in the party, which was strengthened after his landslide victory in Florida.
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People play a role
In principle, the battle for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination could be between Trump and Diantes. If one of them actually wins the presidential election, it could have a huge impact on the future of NATO – one way or another.
Today’s security and geopolitical situation suggests that Europe is highly dependent on the United States, as the largest contributor to NATO, governed by a steady and predictable hand.
There is no doubt that the current Joe Biden administration will comply with NATO’s obligations as a security guarantor towards Europe.
However, American William C. Walforth, professor and director of the faculty at the Dartmouth Institute for Global Security, believes that all of this could change if Trump runs for president and is re-elected as president in 2024.
This is a case where individuals play a role, and Trump is Trump. And nobody else is Trump, not even DeSantis. And as far as Europe is concerned, Trump was constrained last time around because he appointed the well-established Republicans in the national security policy and foreign policy teams, Woolforth tells Nettavisen.
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Trump has learned his lesson
Trump has repeatedly hinted strongly at his desire for the United States to withdraw from NATO, both as a presidential candidate in 2016 and as president in office. Woolforth does not rule out that Trump will take the threats seriously if he is re-elected for a new term in 2024.
— Woolforth says the reason I would be more concerned about another presidency with Trump is that he learned his lesson, and this time he was only going to appoint stinging people who wouldn’t stand in his way.
Governor DeSantis is first and foremost a national politician, and little is known about what he represents in terms of foreign policy.
What evidence is available from DeSantis’ foreign policy views places him more firmly in the mainstream of this party. If DeSantis continues to rise as a star and becomes the party’s leading candidate, his views on foreign policy will likely be determined to a greater extent based on the party’s overall direction, says Woolforth.
“Despite the emergence of an American position first pushed in part by Trump, the majority in the party will remain supportive of our alliance,” he adds.
In July 2022, the Senate was to vote on Finland and Sweden’s membership in NATO. Then only one Republican senator, Joshua Hawley, voted “no.”
The American magazine wrote that “this underscores the broad and deep Republican commitment to the alliance.” foreign affairs The day after the by-election.
“And nearly all of the Republican presidential candidates, with the exception of Trump, are well placed in the conservative international camp,” the magazine wrote, referring to Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz and Mike Pence.
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– It can still be chewed and spit out
Nettavisen asked US expert Hilmar McGildy, a senior researcher at the NORCE think tank, about how a potential DeSantis presidency might affect NATO.
– He – she, I must say first that it is somewhat early to discuss the foreign policy of a potential presidential candidate. One Donald Trump can still chew and spit out. Or who might not come forward, Mjelde tells Nettavisen.
I think President DeSantis would be a traditional Republican president. Like both Obama and Trump, he will likely demand more from NATO countries, but he won’t pull the United States out of NATO. Megildi says DeSantis himself has a background in the military.
Both President Barack Obama and President Trump were interested in a fairer distribution of the burden among NATO member states.
DeSantis tries to combine traditional conservatism with Trump’s populism and succeeds. He also has some authoritarian tendencies, but I see them mostly as performative, i.e. symbolic, he says.
Migildy says DeSantis is a very different kind of politician than Trump.
He knows things well, is serious and competent. You can’t say any of this about Trump, he says.
Would a potential president DeSantis be able to focus more on the Pacific region than on Europe, Mjelde?
American presidents never have the luxury of being able to choose the foreign policy issues they want to focus on. As British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan said: “Dear events, events.” He says there could be a crisis in Taiwan, something new in the Middle East, or more war in Europe if President DeSantis gets his hands on it.
Pick up on the press and DeSantis
Trump, who led the Republican Party despite his absence from the 2020 presidential election, He now faces significant opposition from his own party.
Several Republicans have reportedly asked him to postpone next week’s “major announcement”, which he believes is an announcement of his return and run for president. The scope of the DeSantis hack also increased after the midterm elections.
Trump has also currently lost important support from the American press on the right. i News Corp. Media (Rupert Murdoch) such as Fox News, New York Post and The Wall Street Journal.
The last newspaper take the lead Two days after the midterm elections, “Trump is the Republican Party’s biggest loser” and notes that he “fails” in 2018 (the midterms), 2020 (presidential), 2021 (the Georgia Senate runoff), and 2022 (the midterm elections).
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On his Truth Social platform, Trump takes strong settlement With both News Corp and DeSantis. Trump wrote, among other things, that the Murdoch media is now working on “everything” for DeSantis, who is merely a “moderate Republican governor”.
Furthermore, Trump takes all the credit for ever electing DeSantis as governor of Florida.
The fake media asks him if he wants to run if President Trump is running, and he says, ‘I’m just focused on the gubernatorial election. I’m not looking to the future.” Well, when it comes to loyalty and class, that’s not really the right answer.
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